S.F. supes put housing goals, minimum wage hike on ballot

Updated 11:38 pm, Tuesday, July 29, 2014

San Francisco voters will weigh in on aggressive housing development goals and a minimum wage hike that would bring the city's base pay to $15 an hour by 2018, the highest in the nation, after the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to place both measures on the November ballot.

If a majority of voters support the minimum wage measure, the city's current hourly base pay would rise from $10.74 to $12.25 on May 1, then to $13 an hour in July 2016. It would increase by $1 each subsequent year until reaching $15 in 2018, or $31,000 a year for a full-time minimum-wage worker.

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In a statement, Mayor Ed Lee said the "time has come" to put the question before voters.

"San Francisco is an expensive place for working families, and we know a few more dollars an hour can make a big difference in the pockets of our lowest-paid workers," he said.

The board also voted unanimously to place a policy statement on the fall ballot that would set specific housing development goals for the city, including Lee's aggressive plan to build or rehabilitate 30,000 housing units by 2020. The measure was unveiled last week after down-to-the-wire negotiations between the mayor and Supervisor Jane Kim.

Kim, backed by affordable housing advocates and developers, had initially planned to put a controversial measure on the ballot that would have forced market rate developers to submit to a time-consuming review process anytime the amount of affordable housing in the city's development pipeline slipped below 30 percent. Market-rate developers and Lee's office balked, saying it would result in an overall slowdown of construction. Lee proposed a competing measure that would have invalidated Kim's if it received more votes.

Instead, the mayor and Kim unveiled a compromise measure Thursday that would set out similar goals to Kim's proposal but make them purely advisory. It would specify that one-third of the units in the development pipeline should be affordable to low- and middle-income residents, and half in reach of the middle class.

Each year the city would review what's in the housing pipeline at a Board of Supervisors hearing. If the ratio of affordable housing slips below the 30 percent threshold, the mayor would be required to make concrete proposals on how to get there.

The ballot measure, if approved, would also direct the mayor and supervisors to create a plan for funding its ambitious goals. Kim said she plans to introduce legislation later this year that will help make those goals a reality.

The board was split on a proposal that would pave the way for a hike in pay for workers at nonprofit organizations that contract with the city, voting 7-4 in favor.

The resolution by Supervisor David Campos stated that the board would consider a $3.4 million supplemental appropriation, or a 0.75 percent increase for nonprofit workers, if city revenue from the fiscal year that just ended is above expectations in the coming months.

Supervisors who voted against - Katy Tang, Scott Wiener, London Breed and Mark Farrell - said budget decisions should be made in context of the entire city budget.

Also Tuesday, supervisors approved an update to the city code that would erase decades-old restrictions on arcade games at businesses. Under the legislation by Breed and Wiener, most businesses would be allowed to install up to 10 arcade games without a city permit. The measure would alsorescind restrictions on arcade games near schools or parks.